Getting Involved To Find Solutions
(From Opinion page, January 29, 1997): The architect who designed Mead’s new high school is Fred King. His partner Steve McNutt, commended in Tuesday’s editorial for a volunteer role in the Lewis and Clark High School project, was architect in charge of the Mead project but did not design it.
When Gary Livingston was introducing himself around town as the new superintendent of Spokane School District 81, many of the people he met asked what he planned to do about Lewis and Clark High School.
Rumor had it that school district insiders wanted to abandon the historic downtown landmark. Generations of Tiger alums bristled at the thought.
And yet, the building is old. Teddy Roosevelt laid its cornerstone. After 86 years of use, wear and tear does become a concern. But so does the value of history and tradition.
What would Livingston do? As it turns out, he let the community find its own solution.
This is a story worth pausing over because we live in times of political alienation. Many find it easy to despise government. Few find the time to be constructive in the public square.
But there are exceptions. Back in 1995, at one of those healthy civic gatherings that we in the media tend to overlook, the Lewis and Clark High School Boosters were chatting their way through an agenda when discussion spontaneously coalesced around the building’s sad condition. Parent after parent told stories about how the building’s problems were affecting their children’s education.
One of the parents was Steve McNutt. By profession, McNutt is an architect. (He designed Mead’s new high school.) For the sake of all the children represented at the meeting, including his own, McNutt volunteered the expertise for which he ordinarily is paid. He emerged as co-chairman of a nine-member citizens committee.
That committee threw itself into months of volunteer work. It scrutinized the old building. It identified and evaluated options. Remodel? If so, how? Replace? If so, where? Available construction sites had to be found and studied and neighbors had to be interviewed concerning their willingness to accept (or fight) a new high school.
The role of Livingston and the school board was to stand back and cooperate.
Last year, McNutt’s committee produced a 40-page report which Livingston calls one of the best he’s seen in his career. Its recommendation: Yes, with remodeling and the acquisition of adjoining land for parking and athletic fields, the historic building can be saved, made new for a new century of education.
Last week, Livingston and the school board cleared the way for public hearings on a $66.9 million bond issue. LC’s modernization leads the list of projects that would renovate worn schools throughout the city. After public comment shapes a final proposal, a bond issue could appear on the ballot one year from now.
Be constructive. Be involved. It works.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster/For the editorial board